Sunday Night

It's Sunday night. There was a time in my life when I didn't really like Sunday nights all that much because I dreaded Monday mornings at work. However, that is certainly not the case for me now. I love my job. I love the work that I have the privilege of doing every day. I get to serve the poor and help families to realize their dreams of home ownership through the mission and ministry of Habitat for Humanity. I enjoy the people with whom I work. I am blessed to be in this place at this time. While I'm still not a morning person and probably never will be one, I don't mind Mondays. In fact, I look forward to getting back to the work to which God has called me.
As I sat down to make this blog entry, I began thinking about other times in my life when Sunday nights were a totally different experience for me. When I was serving in the local church, Sunday nights often meant youth group meetings at the church. After being exhausted by the events of Sunday mornings, I would make my way back to the church for youth group. I was never a very good youth leader. I was better one-on-one with youth. I tried my best but I often messed up a whole bunch in relating to youth.
In college, Sunday evenings were worship time at the Ball State University Wesley Foundation campus ministry that I attended. It was a time to connect with friends, hear the Word proclaimed, and sing praises to God. We also often had a Bible study after worship. Sometimes we would get together and go out for dinner after worship. I have a lot of good memories from those days of just hanging out with Christian friends.
Sunday evenings when I was a teenager were always filled with youth activities. Our church youth group usually had Sunday evening meetings. We had a great youth group and I rarely missed a youth meeting. We would do all kinds of fun things and even learn stuff along the way. It was a great time to connect with my friends and it was this youth group that helped me to grow in my faith and understanding of who I am and Whose I am. After years of serving as a youth leader, I am even more grateful for those patient youth leaders who gave of their time (and my guess is some of their sanity) to lead our church youth group. I know there is a special place in heaven for those folks.
I also remember the years before I was old enough to attend youth group. Sunday night was the night for watching television shows with my family like The Wonderful World of Disney, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Hardy Boys, Mork and Mindy, and CHiPs. These were the shows we would talk about with our friends on Monday mornings at school.
Some of my best memories of Sunday nights when I was growing up were of Sunday evening dinners. It was the one night of the week that we got to eat with the television on. The rest of the week, we all sat at the dinner table together as a family and we were not allowed to have the television or radio on during this time. However, on Sunday nights, these rules were thrown out the window and we often sat at TV trays on the couch and watched TV. The menu was usually something like pizza or hot dogs with French fries. I always thought I was so cool to be able to eat with the television on. Of course, now, I seem to eat most of my dinners with the television on. In fact, I'm pretty sure my parents also eat in front of the television now. I guess the old rules have gone out the window in their retirement years.
Sunday nights have been a mixture of business and blessing, entertainment and engagement. Right now in my life Sundays nights are not too exciting. I usually watch a movie on Netflix or read. Sunday nights are a time to prepare for the coming week. I now get to lay low and enjoy the blessings of rest that are a part of my weekends since I left parish ministry. And, like this evening, I am grateful for time to remember the good memories of Sunday nights gone by.
I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday evening. Thanks for being a part of my journey!